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Fireworks vendor finds laws in Jasper County more welcoming

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Because of strict local laws governing the sale of fireworks, the gaudy, quirky stands that pop up around Fourth of July in other parts of the state are nowhere to be seen on southern Beaufort County roads -- except for one.

Along S.C. 170 -- the border between Beaufort and Jasper counties -- a stand opened just in time for the nation's birthday. But it opened on the west side of the road, where Jasper County's rules on fireworks sales are looser.

Beaufort County forces vendors to keep their stores or stands at least 50 feet back from any property line and 500 feet away from residential properties or public gathering places. It also requires that a fire hydrant be close by.

Beaufort County also restricts certain types of building practices for stores that sell firecrackers.

An official with the county's building codes department said the rules, though they don't ban the sale of fireworks outright, are tough enough that vendors go elsewhere to set up shop.

Rock Purdy didn't have to deal with those rules when he opened a new fireworks stand last week along the Jasper County line, just more than a mile north from where S.C. 170 intersects U.S. 278.

Purdy's brown shack is draped in pennants, flags and banners advertising the products sold inside.

"It's so tacky looking you can't miss it," said Purdy, a Ridgeland resident who used to own Rock's Party Store on Hilton Head Island. "You see why Beaufort County has sign laws."

Sitting in a shaded area in front of the building his family has owned for more than half a century, Purdy said he hopes for big business as the Fourth of July approaches. He also owns three other Jasper County fireworks stores, including another on S.C. 170 near Callawassie Island that he's run for five years.

He hopes to get some business from people in Bluffton and on Hilton Head Island, though it's illegal to set off fireworks in those towns.

"People shoot them off all the time on Hilton Head," he said. "The only thing we tell them is 'check your local laws.'<2009>"

If Purdy were across the county line, he'd need a sign stating that "the discharge of fireworks within Beaufort County without special permit is ille

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